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Bloomberg is fighting back against Symphony – Business Insider

Author: \ October 5, 2017 \ 4 Comments
Full Article: Business Insider

Bloomberg, the financial data giant, is offering customers of its signature terminal a way to use its chat function as a stand-alone feature for just $10 a month. The offering, first reported by the Financial Times, undercuts Symphony, a chat and data startup once touted as a “Bloomberg killer” because of its low-cost offering and backing from Wall Street’s biggest firms.

Comments
  • Iceman
    IcemanOctober 9, 2017"While I echo my learned colleagues views I would also add that if you look at Symphony's 'traction' in the financial markets it is not exactly far reaching.... how many companies are connected externally to chat with their clients? A stat I would love to see compared to BBG given the tag line and the amount of money and time invested in the system from the financial markets. On the plus side I do see the market changing and as Mustang pointed out a combination of Symp…"
  • Goose
    GooseOctober 6, 2017"Between overall cost cutting pressure and Symphony deals, the dealers have likely gotten rid of every single Bloomberg terminal that is not deemed essential. Maybe Bloomberg is betting on that fact, and sees this as a relatively cheap call to see if this offering can blunt Symphony by fill the needs of those not on it yet (am guessing there are a lot of firms of all shapes and sizes that aren’t), and connect back with users who didn’t deem the 22k bill essential. Now…"
  • Viper
    ViperOctober 5, 2017"I'm struggling to see the reason for this product’s existence. This does not help sales who only use IB to chat with clients. The IB-only Bloomberg product will only allow you to chat with internal employees. I hated having to fork over $2,000 per person for a Terminal, but there is no real option because their clients are all traders who need Terminals for other reasons. Switching to Symphony is a big effort for an organization and it has already been done by most of…"
  • Mustang
    MustangOctober 5, 2017"This is interesting on many fronts. Where to start? First, BBG is offering chat only for customers that have one BBG terminal at a $22k cost and for internal use only. This is competitively worse than Symphony, which has no restrictions and is both internal and external. I don’t see how a $10/month cost decrease offsets a competitively worse offering than Symphony. Price isn’t the issue and this doesn’t stave off Symphony at all. Instead, it gives Symphony a more valu…"
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4 Comments on "Bloomberg is fighting back against Symphony – Business Insider"

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Mustang
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Mustang
This is interesting on many fronts. Where to start? First, BBG is offering chat only for customers that have one BBG terminal at a $22k cost and for internal use only. This is competitively worse than Symphony, which has no restrictions and is both internal and external. I don’t see how a $10/month cost decrease offsets a competitively worse offering than Symphony. Price isn’t the issue and this doesn’t stave off Symphony at all. Instead, it gives Symphony a more valuable way to differentiate itself without needing to worry about legacy business line cannibalization. If anything, BBG possibly cannibalizes terminal… Read more »
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8 months ago
Viper
Member
Viper
I’m struggling to see the reason for this product’s existence. This does not help sales who only use IB to chat with clients. The IB-only Bloomberg product will only allow you to chat with internal employees. I hated having to fork over $2,000 per person for a Terminal, but there is no real option because their clients are all traders who need Terminals for other reasons. Switching to Symphony is a big effort for an organization and it has already been done by most of the large banks. The benefits are a real with some banks canceling hundreds of Terminals… Read more »
Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
8 months ago
Goose
Member
Goose
Between overall cost cutting pressure and Symphony deals, the dealers have likely gotten rid of every single Bloomberg terminal that is not deemed essential. Maybe Bloomberg is betting on that fact, and sees this as a relatively cheap call to see if this offering can blunt Symphony by fill the needs of those not on it yet (am guessing there are a lot of firms of all shapes and sizes that aren’t), and connect back with users who didn’t deem the 22k bill essential. Now it’s internal only, but that can always change as well. Many Bothans have died trying… Read more »
Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
8 months ago
Iceman
Member
Iceman
While I echo my learned colleagues views I would also add that if you look at Symphony’s ‘traction’ in the financial markets it is not exactly far reaching…. how many companies are connected externally to chat with their clients? A stat I would love to see compared to BBG given the tag line and the amount of money and time invested in the system from the financial markets. On the plus side I do see the market changing and as Mustang pointed out a combination of Symphony and Neptune to offer structured AXE/INV and further pricing alongside a chat function… Read more »
Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
8 months ago
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